Young v. Robin
Young v. Robin
Opinion of the Court
Shortly before 7 a.m., two Michigan state troopers observed a vehicle speeding in the southbound lane of 1-69. Since the state troopers were in the northbound lane, they attempted
Although the police officers called their station to report that their car was stuck, they did not ask for a wrecker. They also did not set out flares by the truck. A number of vehicles passed them without difficulty. However, around 7 a.m., a vehicle containing four passengers and traveling apf proximately 61 miles an hour smashed into the back of the truck without braking. Two passengers in the car died, and two were severely injured. We will henceforth refer to these parties or their respective representatives as the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs filed the instant action against the truck driver and the trucking company for which he works. These defendants filed a third-party complaint against the Michigan State Police and the two state troopers who had been present at the scene. The state troopers filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground of governmental immunity. The trial court ruled that the state troopers were not entitled to governmental immunity and, moreover, that there existed a factual issue with respect to whether the state troopers were guilty of wilful and wanton misconduct. The state troopers thereupon filed an application for leave to appeal to this Court, which was granted.
On appeal, the state troopers contend that the
The state troopers were clearly engaged in a governmental fuction. Moreover, we cannot agree with plaintiffs that the alleged failure of the state troopers to police the scene of the disabled vehicle amounts to a nuisance in avoidance of governmental immunity.
For the foregoing reasons we reverse and remand to the trial court with instructions to dismiss as to the police officers. We need not address the defendants’ contention that the trial court erred in finding that there existed a genuine issue of fact as to whether the state troopers were guilty of wilful and wanton misconduct, since conduct falling short of an intentionally wrongful act is not an exception to governmental immunity.
Reversed. Costs to defendants.
Concurring Opinion
(concurring). I concur in result only. I do not find the ministerial-discretionary standard to be dead. See, e.g., Willis v Nienow, 113 Mich App 30; 317 NW2d 273 (1982) and Young v Ann Arbor, 119 Mich App 512; 326 NW2d 547 (1982) .
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Young v. Robin; Cary v. Robin
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published